Lockdown Fails to Stop Micromobility Dreams: Lime Acquires Uber’s JUMP

JUMP, Uber’s aspiring electric bike-sharing company has joined Lime. The announcement comes on the heels of Lime’s latest funding round of $170 million led by Uber. Alphabet, Google’s parent company, Bain Capital Ventures GV and Lime’s existing investors participated in the funding round.

Latest Lime acquisition news comes within hours of Intel acquiring Moovit, another mobility-as-a-service platform.

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As part of the deal, Lime will take the stake at Uber’s JUMP, integrating the mobile app and customer data to maintain social distancing norms once lockdown lifts in the US and Canada. Earlier this year, Uber had sold off its food delivery platform Uber Eats to Zomato.

What does it mean for the Micromobility Industry?

All in all, this deal announces the arrival of a new ride-sharing trend.

With pool cabs out of question for health reasons, mobility driving seems to be the obvious future. Hinting at supporting vulnerable populations to continue enjoying small pleasures, including grabbing a hamburger from popular joints, or going to a date, or just buying groceries or a Starbucks’ across the town, taking an Uber JUMP with Lime could be the new social distancing/ riding benchmark for everyone.

Brian Bao, Co-founder and Chairman of Board at Lime, highlighted the value of companies like Uber and Lime in bringing normalcy to the current chaos, even as everyone tries to build a long-term durable business.

Lime’s CEO Wayne Ting agreed. Wayne said, “Micromobility will be vital to the new world affected by COVID-19 and we are already seeing this as cities begin to move again. With our new financing and expanded offerings, we are strongly positioned to meet the needs of riders in a safe and reliable way.”

Recently in December 2019, Lime introduced its Global LimePass Subscription service across cities in the US, Australia, and New Zealand. Earlier in March , Lime commercially launched its Geo-fencing and Zone detection technologies to warn riders against driving at high speeds and against parking in No-Park zones.

COVID-19 has Changed the Mobility Standards

With changing micromobility requirements, we might see Uber-Lime partnership targeting bigger markets where the COVID-19 pandemic has spawned its risks at a magnified scale. India, China, Malaysia, Germany, Italy, Spain and other densely populated countries could benefit from the e-scooter mobility solutions, powered by the growth of 5G, Mobile, and IoT innovations.

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Earlier this week, Uber announced its revenue results for Q1 2020. Uber Technologies registered revenue of $3.5 million, growing 14% YoY.

Dara Khosrowshahi, CEO OF Uber said,

“Along with the surge in food delivery, we are encouraged by the early signs we are seeing in markets that are beginning to open back up. Our global footprint and highly variable cost structure remain an important advantage, as our expectation is that the Rides recovery will vary by city and country.”

Nelson Chai, CFO added, “We have recently exited eight unprofitable Eats markets, significantly reduced the size of our customer support and recruiting teams, and merged our JUMP unit into Lime. Building on the steps we have already taken, we are continuing to look at all levers to ensure our core Rides and Eats businesses emerge from this crisis stronger than ever.”

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